Five Harsh Truths You Need To Consider Before You Start Living The #Vanlife

The van movement is having a moment. Major life decisions are being made. Jobs quit. Furniture sold. Leases cancelled. People are opting to live in their vehicles…for pleasure. Hell, I’ve been doing it for two years now. The road calls. Something exciting is waiting out there for you and an old VW or Chevy might be your key to finding it. Time to chase freedom!

Wait. Pump the brakes for a second.

Yes, life on the road is breathtaking. Yes, there are moments of pure bliss. The photos you see, the stories you hear, they’re real and they paint a vivid picture that you’d be crazy not to want to be a part of. But what about the other times? The breakdowns and the pouring rain. The flat tires and the break ins. In order to appreciate the wonders of the good times, you might have to plow through a fair amount of sh*t.

My wife and I started our business in 1977 traveling in a new Westfalia around the Western U.S. living in our van. Over a twenty five year period we became quite successful, enough so that we eventually had to begin flying around the U.S. and Canada to do our work. We owned three Westfalias during this time and had fantastic adventures and loved the life. But I have serious issues with VW Westfalias. Their motors tend to blow up even if you take care of them. Yet they were then pretty much the only game in town and rejuvenated “Westies” are still popular because they’re ideal in principle but a pain in the ass in practice. We traveled in New Zealand in 1991 and discovered that several of the Japanese Automakers make small vans on the chassis of small pickups. In the North Island we rented a Mazda, configured similar to the Westie. In the South Island we rented a Mitsibushi which we liked even better. Here’s the thing, these campers cannot be imported into North America and I cannot find a reason why. Believe me I have tried because if these small campers could be imported they would be snatched up so fast it would put a big dent in the RV Market for the wheeled mansions they call “Motorhomes.” I’m nearing 80 now but if I were younger, like some of you living the vanlife, I would go on a crusade to try and discover why these great small campers can’t be imported. I imagine it has something to do with smog device issues but pickups can be imported and I think if this is the reason it’s bullshit and could be overcome. A Canadian friend in Mexico traveled all over Australia in one of these campers that get way better gas mileage than VWs of any ilk, and he thinks it’s conspiracy by the big auto and RV companies to keep these small campers out of the North American Market. He may be right. If so this investigation is perfect for one of you young go-getters out there, one of you adventurous explorers to dig into this and find out why we are being deprived of these great little campers. Their availability would quadruple the number of people who could discover the wonderful life on the road.